Tree Climbing
by The Vampire Victor
Summary: Bramblestar and Squirrelflight are confronted by their past in this tragic tale.
1. Chapter 1

It was the start of a new day. Squirrelflight felt refreshed after spending a night in the Med Den. She was in here because a couple of days before, she had hurt her ankle whilst she was chasing some prey and fell into an empty fox den. She had spent two days getting patched up by Leafpool. It worried Squirrelflight's kits as they were not allowed to see her until she was better.

Squirrelflight had given birth to three kits about 4 moons ago. They were called Twilightkit, Robinkit and Graykit. Twilightkit was called this because his pelt was pitch-black like the twilight sky, Robinkit has a reddish brown pelt which resembles that of a robin and Graykit was named after Graystripe who had died two moons before the kits were born in a horrific accident involving water, nettles and some ShadowClan cats. The kits' father was Bramblestar who had once been the young naive Brambleclaw that Squirrelflight had fallen for but now that he was the leader and she was the deputy, Squirrelflight just didn't feel loved anymore and if she was honest, she didn't feel like she loved Bramblestar.

The kits raced in and clambered on top of her with cries of "Mummy, we missed you!" Squirrelflight struggled to get them off at first but then she rolled over and the fear of being squashed got the better of the kits and they got off. "Calm down, it's all ok. I'm fine and it wasn't any different from normal. You always spend the day with Daisy and her kits when I'm on deputy duty." Squirrelflight said. The kits shuffled about a bit nervously. Eventually Robinkit spoke up, "We thought you would be left with no leg or something..." Squirrelflight was shocked by the things the kits had dreamt up. "Well, look. I have all my legs and I am going back to work today hopefully so you need to go back to the nursery and stop worrying." She said. The kits all charged out of the room happy to know their mum was alright.


	2. Chapter 2

Squirrelflight stood up and winced as Bramblestar came in. "Are you sure you're alright to work? I don't want it to affect the clan." He said. That was it, no 'I was really worried' or 'You shouldn't work if you are going to hurt yourself'. Oh no, all he cared about nowadays was the clan. Squirrelflight understood a good leader needed to think about the clan but he should be able to show some affection once in a while or even notice he had a mate. It annoyed her that his commitment took up all his time. He wasn't like this before, he used to be reckless and take chances. He used to have a heart but now it was gone. Squirrelflight replied, "Perfectly fine, thanks. I think I will lead the border patrol today." Bramblestar had to think about this for a minute to make sure it didn't affect the clan. Then he said "That's fine but _I'm _going and so is Spiderleg. To make sure it goes ok as we've had some trouble with ShadowClan since the incident with Graystripe." Squirrelflight resented his decision, why didn't he trust her? She was his mate, for StarClan's sake! "Yes, this is fine." Squirrelflight said, "I'll meet you at the fresh kill pile. You can get Spiderleg." Bramblestar looked shocked by the fact he'd been told to do something. "You can't tell me..." He blurted angrily before calming down, "Yes that's what I will do." He walked off, tail held high.

Squirrelflight walked slowly out of the den and towards the pile of dead prey that had been caught by the warriors that had gone out this morning. Squirrelflight started tucking into a rat when Bramblestar and Spiderleg approached. "Oh there you are! Hurry up, we need to go." Exclaimed Bramblestar as if Squirrelflight hadn't told him to meet her at the fresh kill pile two minutes ago. Squirrelflight finished eating and walked up to Bramblestar's side. "We are going to do ShadowClan first." Bramblestar said as they headed out of the camp towards the ShadowClan border. When they got there, they started scent marking the borders whilst Squirrelflight kept watch.


	3. Chapter 3

Suddenly, three cats appeared out of nowhere on the top of a boulder. Two of them she only just recognised, but the third was new to her. The two she recognised, looked like Hawkfrost and Tigerstar but they were dead, weren't they? Now she thought about it, there had been a lot of strange sightings recently. "Bramblestar, you might want to take a look at this." She exclaimed. Bramblestar looked annoyed at the disturbance. "What is it?" he asked but he didn't need an answer once he had seen the cats and heard his father's voice.

Tigerstar came forward. "My son, a leader finally but the forest is still in order. How can this be?" he said. Hawkfrost patted Tigerstar on the shoulder with his tail. "It's because he's the FAILURE." Hawkfrost said. Spiderleg was backing away in fear but the unknown cat jumped down, ran at Spiderleg and with one swift movement of his paw, slit his throat in a way that let out a fountain of blood as he collapsed before he even had time to wail.

The sight horrified Squirrelflight as it showed the sheer power these cats represented. "Nice one Scourge."Said Tigerstar, "You know what we discussed though." Scourge nodded at the two cats on the rock. Hawkfrost backed up. In fear? No, he was about to pounce. He sailed through the air and came crashing down on Bramblestar who was struggling to get free until Scourge held a claw to his neck. Squirrelflight let out a wail. "There's no need for that, dear. He'll be ok, if you do what I want, that is."Said Tigerstar.


	4. Chapter 4

Squirrelflight had to compose herself. "What do you want?" she asked. If it meant saving Bramblestar, she would do it. "A simple race to the top of that tree." Tigerstar pointed to a nearby birch tree. "If I win, I want all of you to leave for 300 moons and leave without harming any more cats." Said Squirrelflight. She looked over to Bramblestar to see if she'd done the right thing but he just looked worried. Maybe he does care she thought. "If **_I_** win, I will kill you and let Bramblestar go. That's all." Said Tigerstar. That seemed simple enough, too simple Squirrelflight thought. "Swear that you will abide by these terms no matter who wins. Swear on StarClan!" Squirrelflight demanded. Tigerstar looked annoyed by this. "I solemnly swear that I will abide by the terms just stated no matter who wins and if I don't StarClan can make me suffer for all eternity. That enough, sweetheart?" Tigerstar asked her. Squirrelflight made sure he wasn't trying to trick her. "Ok. I will do it." Said Squirrelflight. Bramblestar wailed. "Don't do it. You will only affect the clan and that's not good!" Squirrelflight shot him a look of disgust before proceeding to the bottom of the tree. "You may take any path up the tree you wish. 3...2...1...go!"Said Hawkfrost. And off they shot, up the tree.

Squirrelflight was taking a route where the branches were all closer together so she could make smaller jumps. She was about half way up the tree and Tigerstar had fallen behind but the next jump she made was miscalculated and she toppled. Her front paw just managed to snag the branch as she fell. Once she had climbed back up, she realised that Tigerstar was almost at the top. She increased her speed but it didn't help. She reached the top branch just after Tigerstar. "You lose Sweetie." Tigerstar said maliciously as he hit her with the back of his paw. She lost her balance. If her foot had healed properly, she would have managed to stay on but she fell. Down.


	5. Chapter 5

Hawkfrost and Scourge let go of Bramblestar and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Bramblestar ran forward, underneath where Squirrelflight was falling. Squirrelflight was screaming but a scream couldn't save you so she quickly shut up, closed her eyes and remembered. She remembered when she and Bramblestar played together as apprentices. She remembered her sister, Leafpool getting her name. But most of all she remembered Feathertail, the cat she had aspired to be ever since that fateful day. At least Feathertail had a heroic death, unlike Squirrelflight who was dangerously near the ground and Bramblestar. And then she hit him, and blacked out.

Her eyes fluttered and she saw a blurry image of Bramblestar lying next to her. "Squirrelflight, please. Squirrel you have to stay with me. Squirrel, I have chased you farther than any other but now I realise how stupid I was to ignore you. I love you Squirrel. Always and forever. You need to know that, I love you. Squirrel we can get you to Leafpool if we are ..." said Bramblestar. Squirrelflight licked him on the nose. "I love you too. I always have but I need you to focus on me right now. Please." She said. She licked him again and this time he licked her back. "Squirrel, you are going to be ok." He said. Squirrelflight twitched. "We both know what happens now Bramble. But I need you to promise me that whatever happens, you don't seek revenge and although you don't forget me I need you to not be sad for me forever. Promise me Bramble, promise m..." Squirrelflight's eyes rolled back in her head and her legs flopped over and the blood started to dry. "I promise... Squirrel... I swear it." Bramble cried before he sat wailing at the sky...


End file.
